Hobbies and Crafts

Hope little wren is OK Dizzie.
The swifts were out in force last night, hope they caught a lot of midges, that will stop them biting me. Why do midges/mozzies bite some people & not others? I get bitten to death, OH doesn't get bitten.

We also saw a couple of the small hawks yesterday.

I've just had a tiny little wren bobbing backwards and forwards along the fence outside the kitchen window making a lot of noise. I don't know what it's about but she keeps looking over the other side of the fence. Nothing I can do to find out really because if it's anything to do with fledglings the other side I'd have ended up making her fly off as the back door is right by where she is. I just hope it's nothing to do with next door but one's grey cat. I know my 3 are innocent, they're all in and on beds at the moment thank goodness.

You should be honoured to have them on the trellis Ann......the small birds come back and its nature......but l know what you mean.
The rspb lads at Symonds Yat get so excited when l tell them of the Sparrowhawks that have recently been seen catching pigeons etc here.

jude x

We have had a female sparrow hawk on our trellis just outside our conservatory. I hate to see them, magnificen as they are because afterwards we don't see the small birds for ages.

Hello Glenys the Menace:o))

l would love to see that, we have them around here but only seen one sitting on a fence for a split second.

Photo of Buzzards on blog now:o))

Hello, Strangers! Haven't been on for a looooooong time. This morning I had a real fright: we were having breakfast in the conservatory which overlooks the patio, on which is our bird feeding station. I heard a flapping, looked out just in time to see a bird roughly the size of a wood pigeon, fly off from the feeding station. I only saw the underside; after the bird had flown off, the feeding sparrows started screeching. Because they did that, I thought maybe a sparrowhawk? Looked it up, and sure enough, the markings I saw matched those of the female sparrowhawk. It all happened in seconds, but made me jump! Poor birds didn't come back for a while, so they were obviously spooked. :-((

Well I saw a sight this morning.7 Buzzards!!!.I got a photo ,but only got 4 in the frame.I have never seen a sight like that before.They were quite high up and I could hear all the squawking going on.
I will send a pic of the 4 to Judes Blog.

Blame OH, Ann, he would give a home to anything including an elephant!!

got you wrapped around their paws then??

Ann, yes they still live wild, though get their main meals here. The female, Sweetie, will come inside the kitchen door to eat, but the tom cat will not come inside the gate while you are outside. But he is getting less wary. I am afraid as winter comes on, they will have toe at outside, to keep our heating in. Phil is looking for a place in the garden to build them a winter shelter.

Are they still living wild Jean?


Well, we have filled up all the feeders and hope the birds have enough for at least one week, then they will have to rely on our neighbours, two lots feed them so they will be fine while we are away.

Regarding cat and her husband, from the kitten saga. When she comes up the garden path and he is sitting theere, she greets him with a kiss and a nose nuzzle, then they both come to the gate and wait to be fed. Having eaten , they go their separate ways until the next meal! They dont seem to bother with chasing birds.

Sadly the bird was put to sleep this morning:o((

Guess what....we have another injured bird, this time a Blackbird. Neighbour is out walking his dog and found it, phoned us in the hope we could take it to vets....as if we would say NO!!

Its broken it claw and the bone is pretruding, hope vet can sort it.

We have Sparrow Hawks here that kill Wood pigeons.
Nature is pretty marvelous though isnt it:o))

jude x

What a shame the pigeon died Jude.

We got home yesterday to find a dead pigeon in the garden, looked like a cat had got it. I didn't see it as OH cleared it up but he said it was a wood pigeon, must have been a determined cat!

Thanks Jane.

jude

That's sad Jude.At least you gave it a good chance.

l can remember the old aga we had in Tangmere as children, ohhh those were the days:o) hope you get it sorted!!

Sadly the pigeon died....we had a phone call this morning from Carmarthenshire, Vic spoke to them and did'nt ask who they were...dohhhh, don't think it was the owner as l'm sure the vets said they came from Staffordshire. The are doing some tests to find out why it died. It had been missing for a week:o((

jude

'Fraid not Jude. I knew after the dear old aga broke down last week and they got it going temporarily again that it needed a new part. They replaced it yesterday with a "new upgraded" version. The aga takes at least 6 hours to come back up to its proper heat but 30 hours later we're still not there. It's hot enough to cook certain things for now, and there's just about enough hot water for a shower, but not for a bath so they have to come back next week to see why it's not getting to full power - not till Thursday though :-(. Wouldn't you know it has to be chilly when something like this happens...

It's actually not raining today and it has been brighter but still decidedly cool. My cats have actually spent a little bit of time outside today instead of whizzing out to do the necessary and whizzing back in. They sit by the patio doors just looking out from time to time, then they look up at me as if to say "I'm bored Mum".

Glad pigeon is going to get back to its owner and hope it gets a bit of tlc to build it up again when it gets home.

Madoc OK?

So pleased we took pigeon to vets:o)))) It had a phone number on the ring, its a valuable racer and they are arranging for its collection:o)) Vet said she can't see any obvious injury, abit thin and probably still tired::o))))

jude